Yesterday, in anticipation of his ISIS speech we reminded readers of Obama’s facility with falsity. Now that his speech has been given, qualified and appropriate parsing of his words are available and which we commend to you. This is longish but we think compelling reading.
First to comment via e-mail was our senior editor Don Holmes (DLH) who virtually tweeted as Obama twittered “We will “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS”
Why is it necessary to say “degrade” and destroy? Why wouldn’t it be more clear,
and even more forceful, to say simply,” we will destroy them!”
It seems to me that this actually betrays BO’s equivocal approach to this. Not
surprising.
Comments by former, and we hope future, congressman Allen West of Florida, an Iraq War veteran, (Lt Col., USA, Ret) were forwarded to us by Hugh Pries of Bettendorf with approval. Hugh is also an Iraq War veteran (Lt Col. USA, Special Forces) where he served as an adviser to the Iraqi Army.
Now we are going to put our national security trust in surrogate forces? And we’re supposed to send in more trainers for the Iraq Army? Heck, if Obama had supported the generals on the ground and fought to leave a residual force in Iraq, we would have had the trainers there and wouldn’t be in this position! . . .
Another key point Obama failed to address, as he talked about his highest priority being our security — will Obama stop the decimation of our military force, which finds itself at horribly low levels? That is why I believe Obama’s strategy is about “outsourcing” our national security as he degrades and destroys our military capability and capacity, which we have addressed here. . . .
I fear for my country. We are indeed rudderless amidst a maelstrom.
It depends on what the meaning of ISIS is
In his speech Obama emphasized that ISIL is not Islamic. And ‘No religion condones the killing of innocents’* Dutifully mainstream media sources used those quotes as a prime takeaway in their reporting of the speech as they were so often highlighted. But our own DSL promptly quipped: “it depends on what the meaning of ISIS is.” A couple of articles brought to our attention the emptiness of the phrases as applied to the subject at hand.
Gary Bauer of Campaign for Working Families had this hard hitting response:
Obama wasn’t very far into his speech last night before he launched into a defense of Islam. First he said, ” Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL is not ‘Islamic.'”
Well, Mr. President, the first “I” in “ISIL” stands for “Islamic.” One hundred percent of its members are avowed Muslims. The one characteristic of every Westerner who has joined ISIL is that they were either born Muslim or converted to Islam. Practicing Baptists and Catholics need not apply.
Moreover, the first thing ISIL does when it conquers territory is impose Sharia or Islamic law, which they wouldn’t care about if they weren’t devout Muslims. Many Muslims bristle under Sharia law, but the imposition of Sharia is what ISIL members believe Allah demands of them.
Then Obama said this: “No religion condones the killing of innocents.” Obama needs to check his Koran and talk to Hussein bin Mahmoud. The Koran specifically calls for the smiting or killing of the infidel. And, Mr. President, if you are an infidel, according to fundamentalist Muslims, you’re not innocent.
It’s true that many Muslims disagree. But a 2013 Pew poll of just 11 Muslim countries found that 13% of the respondents supported Al Qaeda. That equates to approximately 100 million Muslims. For the president to act like Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and ISIL (ISIS) are part of a fringe conspiracy to smear a peaceful religion is ludicrous.
Obama noted that “the vast majority of victims have been Muslims.” Well, Mr. President, that’s the point. ISIL sees their Muslim victims as insufficiently committed to the faith, as apostates. The reason the overwhelming majority of victims have been Muslim is a matter of geography — ISIL operates in a predominately Muslim region . . . for now.
If ISIL, Hamas and Hezbollah ever get to Israel, the great majority of their victims will be Jews. On the morning of 9/11, whose anniversary we are marking today, the great majority of victims were Americans — Christians, Jews, members of other faiths and those with no faith.
Rather than going on TV to deny the obvious, our leaders, including George W. Bush, should be saying, “There is a war going on within Islam. The ascendant force within Islam wants to go back to its medieval roots of conquest. There is some resistance, but not nearly enough.”
Mark Alexander at Patriot Post had both a pithy and erudite response to the same quotes:
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! Fact is, more than a third of the Muslim trilogy (Koran, Hadith and Sira) is devoted to Islamic Jihad as instructed by Mohammed. And Obama needs a lesson on Jihadistan, that borderless nation of Islamic extremists that constitutes Muslim terrorist groups around the world.
We will continue supplying analytical comments regarding the speech and policy in coming days.
